Motorcycle Adventures

Well those of you who know me know that I love to plan.  This year I have three holidays, in July, August, and September.  At least 2 out of these thee will be motorcycle trips this year, and I have a funny feeling all three will end up being a motorcycle trip.

In January 2009, Eryk is getting his new BMW, and he and Michelle can start to enjoy their new bike.  In August all 4 of us are going to go on a motorcycle trip together – that will be the highlight of the motorcycling year for me.

As those holidays are now the main thing I’m looking forward to, it’s time to start planning. Originally the idea was to take a trip over to Vancouver Island, head as far north as we could go, and then take a ferry further north, into the Queen Charlotts.  From there we would travel back down to the coast.  While I think the trip would be interesting, on further investigation, I’ve discovered that the drive itself is perhaps not the best for our trip.  It’s relatively straight and uninteresting, and for our trip of the year, I’d really like it to be beautiful with lots of wonderful things to see, and as it’s a motorcycle trip by design, it needs to be fun to ride.  It is also a long trip, with a lot of necessary kilometers to get back home.

The more I think about it, the more I think a trip to Nelson might be the best bet.  As you probably know I already love Nelson, and the idea of revisiting my favorite little town hardly needs serious arm twisting to get me on board.

There are several things that sell the Nelson idea for me. Firstly, the roads are beautiful.  I really enjoy the ride and am sure that we would all really enjoy the trip.  It would be nice for Michelle to see Nelson as so far she is the only one who hasn’t seen Nelson ye – at least not by way of the motorcycle.  Because of the beauty of the surrounding area, I also like the idea of using Nelson as a base camp of sorts, from which we make trips to the surrounding areas. There are beautiful roads and areas around Nelson and dipping down into the US that we have not explored.

I suspect that not all of us are going to want to ride all the time every day, and moods will dictate some of what we end up doing.  We may also not always want to ride in our group of 4.  Someone may wish to stay behind, or just a couple of us might go for a trip.  Using Nelson as a base camp, makes it possible for the 4 of us to have maximum flexibility. If someone wants to stay behind, they can. Nelson is the perfect place to hang if someone does want alone time, or if the weather isn’t very good.  What I propose is that we book the White House Backpackers Lodge for the duration of the trip, give us all a place to stay.  A room is only $50/night and includes a double bed and some privacy.  Eryk and Michelle and Nicole and I would each have our own room giving us even better privacy when we, eh-hem… Need it

There are many trips that we can take from the Nelson area – most are day-trips with a round-trip distance of up to 350km.  A few are part of the larger Selkirk Loop, which extends north of Nelson, and South into the US.  The US part of the loop is a longer ride that would probably be best served by an overnight stay or two. See a map of the Selkirk Loop for some ideas about the motorcycle trips from this area. The two grey maps are maps of a couple of the northern loops from the area – easily done in a day including some relaxation time and stopping.

I realize that it will be a little more expensive to do things this way perhaps than camping, but I think it would be worth it.  This way no one would feel that have to go somewhere because the rest of the group wants to, and it gives us all a chance to have time as couples and by ourselves – which I think will be a big plus on a longer trip like this! If bad weather does hit, we have a safe and comfortable place to spend our time. it also might be cheaper than many places we could stay. See a link for The White House here

Here are a couple links to reviews of some of the roads in the area:
Between Kaslo and New Denver
Kootnay Pass between Crawford Bay and Creston

I would also welcome the time to explore a little more.  I would welcome a trip to spend mond time near that wonderful beach in near Boswell, to spend a little more time in Kaslo, and to visit many more of the small communities that dot the area. I would love to drive down south and visit some of the US.  It looks as though there are many more great roads and places to visit there.

I’m open to ideas however, so if my wonderful friends come up with with another great plan, than I’m open to a different adventure.  It will be great to spend a vacation touring through the mountains on our motorcycles this summer.

That’s all for now.

Al